Baked “Minestrone” ?!

Yes … the title is correct :)) there is no mistake but come on … baked minestrone ?

Recently I read an interesting article “Minestrone reimagined alla Nonna” ( “Nonna” - the Italian word for grandmother ) on a beautiful Italian food blog “La Cucina Italiana”. As you probably know “minestrone” is a thick Italian soup. There are countless recipes of minestrone with different combinations of vegetables, meats, pasta and beans. The reimagined minestrone in the article I read uses the gently simmered vegetables from the soup but they are finished in the oven in a baking tray with a béchamel sauce and some grated parmesan cheese over the top.

I liked the idea so I tried something similar but my way … a bit lighter. I gently simmered the vegetables then I grilled them in the oven. I used some of the liquid and vegetables to prepare a light vegetable sauce. A few pasta and some freshly grated parmesan cheese … The result ? Keep reading :))

The soup

Wash and peel the vegetables and chop them in medium dice pieces and for broccoli … just try to keep the florets whole. Keep in mind that too small pieces are not suitable for baking tray …

Put the vegetables in a pot without the broccoli, cover with water, add a half tea spoon of salt and bring the pot to a boil then lower the heat so the liquid is just simmering. Simmer the vegetables for 10 minutes or so and add the pasta and let the liquid simmer until the pasta is ready - about 10 minutes more. In a separate pot gently simmer the the broccoli for 3-5 minutes. Feel free to add fresh or dried basil to the soup if you consider …

The sauce

Put in the blender about 150 grams of vegetables and half of the potatoes (without broccoli), 50-100 ml of soup a tea spoon of olive oil, A table spoon of grated parmesan cheese and blend all ingredients on low speed about a minute until you get a creamy sauce …

The “baked minestrone”

Preheat the oven at 200C with ventilation …

Put the vegetables (and broccoli) and the pasta in a medium tray on baking paper and cover about half of the surface with the sauce. Sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan cheese and bread crumbs over and put the tray into the oven. Let it bake 10 minutes then switch to grill setting at medium intensity. Let it grill about 5 minutes or until you like the look :) … Enjoy !